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Western Video Game Music: A Primer

B

BBboy20

Member
XANDER CAGE said:
Yeah, for real. It's a shame the campaigns were so drab to actually play because I think the overall presentation was really great. There's a really grim, nasty vibe to the whole affair, and the music adds a ton. I'd love to play a good shooter with this tone, like a playable Sicario or something, heh.

This one's another standout I think.
Click to expand...
It's post-modern excellence. You get the impression the composers saw the potential of their product more so then everyone else who either never did or could. Fuck man, now this is all reminding how Battlefield 3 (at the time) looked like what Call of Duty should have became but that's another story about my 23 year old self.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGmLbpcOrFI
God, it was so maddening this song was stuck in both the Frostbite video AND A FRIGGIN LOADING SCREEN! Didn't help the PC version was encrypted so I couldn't just listen to the song through the folders. BF3's OST is just a gold mine and I feel like I'm one of the few people in the world that is aware of it for such a mega popular series.
 
T

thelongestj

Member
So glad to see Peter McConnell and Michael Land in the OP. Those are the only two I listen to outside of the games themselves. Although Legacy by The Gone Jackals will probably always be my favorite video game song.Lucas Arts adventure games need more appreciation on this board.
 
Nikodemos

Nikodemos

Member
"The aquatic devils have reshaped the poor girl in their image! She is now their queen... and their slave."
Stuart Chatwood

Also, the sadly less-known Kevin Manthei:
Wizardry 8 Tough Combat
Wizardry 8 Trynton Theme
Wizardry 8 Arnika Theme (so peaceful... until you get pulped by a shitton of Savant Guards)
Wizardry 8 T'Rang Theme (the spider-slug things you end up best buds with if you choose the 'heroic' path)
Sacrifice Battle 2
Sacrifice Battle 3
Sacrifice Desecration Theme (if you hear this you're either about to win or about to lose)
Sacrifice Victory Theme
Jagged Alliance 2 Tactical map themes
 
Nikodemos

Nikodemos

Member
Also, no mention of Paul Romero (with Rob King and Steve Baca)? Heroes of Might & Magic series, anyone?

Heroes II Knight Castle Theme
Heroes II Sorceress Castle Theme
Heroes II Combat 1
Heroes II Combat 2
Heroes II Combat 3
Heroes III Combat 2
Heroes III Combat 3
Heroes III Combat 4
Heroes IV Sea Theme
Heroes IV Combat 2
Heroes IV Combat 1
Heroes IV Snow Theme


EDIT:

Oh, and not to forget Michiel van den Bos. While better known for his work on Unreal and Unreal Tournament, he scored both the original Age of Wonders and the recent third installment.
 
G

Golnei

Member
Went back and added links to the previous posts. Also, here's a few more individual tracks that might be worth mentioning:

Aakash Rao - Valley (Valley)
Scott Morton - War's Theme (Darksiders)
FlyByNo - Auriga's Song (Endless Legend)
Thomas Happ - Vital Tide (Axiom Verge)
Obfusc - Sounds from Shattered Seashells (Monument Valley)
David Fenn - Legendary Titan Slayer (Titan Souls)
The Toxic Avenger - Make This Right (Furi)
Zoltar Freigeist - The City (Battle) (Crowntakers)
Torbjørn Brandrud - Ancient Power (AM2R)
Sam Marshall - Forever Apart (Entwined)
The Home Conversion - Cave Living (Neon Struct)
Chad Seiter - Recore Main Theme Reprise (Recore)
 
InfiniteCombo

InfiniteCombo

Banned
Bravo, great thread Orthodoxy!

I've been a fan of Jesper Kyd's stuff since Assassin's Creed II. (I actually own the OSTs for both AC2 and AC:Brotherhood, they're that good).

David Wise is an obvious one. Oh, since I'm on this topic, Eveline Fischer deserves a mention for her outstanding work on Donkey Kong Country 3. It's far and away my favorite soundtrack of that series. From what I remember, she even wrote/co-wrote some tracks from DKC1 as well.
 
S

SatelliteOfLove

Member
I've begun to sorta crystalize that much of the reason for this is a cocktail of anti-Japanese double standard, the death of the arcade and computer-console hybrid market, the move away from restricted formats, and the strident desire for video games to appear to "grow up" in recent memory. It was asking for this battlelines treatment sadly.

That drive to watery atmosphericness clouded over the numerous exceptions to that drive (this is more common than you think in this industry).

Time to add some of mine I like to throw out:

Matthew "Zath" Steele

Wild, time signature-changing, jazzy wonderment. His Dungeons of Dredmor OST has a good claim to be the OSTotY for 2011 even with that being a TOUGH fight to win.

Dervish

Pits

Spelunk

Veil

Swamp

Alberto Gonzalez's melody-chucking game was on fire, and much of it was on the tinny, wheezy GB!

Aqua ~ The Smurf's Nightmare

Another World

Aboard the Pachacamac ~ Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun

Also does some good samples:

Le Train ~ Tintin in Tibet

Anno said:
Great thread. RIP Kirill Pokrovsky - you were a genius who won't easily be replaced.
Click to expand...

Amen to that.
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
Great thread. All the additional mentions after OP really strike home the OP's point itself:

There's a shit ton of great music out there.

Sure, being able to appreciate a lot of it is down to taste (hence a lot of the Japan vs west threads, really) but there really is always something new to listen to. So many great soundtracks come and go unnoticed each year.
 
M

MikeDown

Banned
S

Shadow Hog

Member
Addendum to the Giacchino bit: he also did the soundtracks for Gargoyles on the Genesis, Maui Mallard on Mega Drive/SNES/Windows 95, and Mickey Mania (though to which extent unknown to me - apparently only its redbook audio versions, like the Sega CD and PS1 ports?).

I suppose you'll want examples, so here's two from Maui (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFvLa2Kr62Q, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pzyVv6jQBQ), complete OST from Mickey Mania linked to one of my favorite songs followed by another of my favorite songs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMzHf_U58-k#t=16m15s), and complete Gargoyles OST (I haven't really played this one for the music to sink in).

Fittingly, he went from doing Disney video games to doing Disney films proper - first with Pixar and The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up and Inside Out, upcoming scores for Doctor Strange and Star Wars: Rogue One, and even Disney Animated Canon itself with Zootopia. I must confess, the man's work in film scores has certainly gotten my interest...
 
S

Sparrowhawk

Member
Shadow Hog said:
Addendum to the Giacchino bit: he also did the soundtracks for Gargoyles on the Genesis, Maui Mallard on Mega Drive/SNES/Windows 95, and Mickey Mania (though to which extent unknown to me - apparently only its redbook audio versions, like the Sega CD and PS1 ports?).

I suppose you'll want examples, so here's two from Maui (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFvLa2Kr62Q, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pzyVv6jQBQ), complete OST from Mickey Mania linked to one of my favorite songs followed by another of my favorite songs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMzHf_U58-k#t=16m15s), and complete Gargoyles OST (I haven't really played this one for the music to sink in).

Fittingly, he went from doing Disney video games to doing Disney films proper - first with Pixar and The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up and Inside Out, upcoming scores for Doctor Strange and Star Wars: Rogue One, and even Disney Animated Canon itself with Zootopia. I must confess, the man's work in film scores has certainly gotten my interest...
Click to expand...

I used to love Maui Mallard when I was a kid! The soundtrack is so funky.
 
BONKERS

BONKERS

Member
My biggest issue with Western music in games historically is how it's been implemented and treated rather than with the music itself.

Often it's put in some stupid as hell dynamic streaming system that treats the music more like a sound effect than a piece of music. Trying to be like a movie score, but with none of the precision or finesse of such a linear system.
It ruins the listening experience

The quintessential example here is Castlevania Lords of Shadow for me.
Great soundtrack, ruined experience in game by the terrible underlying audio system design trying to change the music to player actions. Generic and completely un Castlevania like when the actual soundtrack when played how it should be would've worked incredibly well.

And of course the best example of this system actually working well without ruining the listening experience is the original Unreal(1998). (And Phantasy Star Online 1/2)


I used to really dislike the approach taken by many western games, forgoing thematic and melodic approaches to music that I really liked and preferred from Japanese music.
(Not that ALL western music was written that way anyway)

That changed a long time ago as the whole idea of loving video game music for me is based on the idea of being open minded and that there are no real rules that have to be adhered to when comes to the composition itself. Game music should be heterogeneous and not expected to be homogeneous. Unlike the actual music/band industry

When it comes to game music, there should be no east/west divide. It should just be Game Music!

Some of my favorites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcvndQIfu0A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjNa8qkcb_I&list=PLE82054FF0114AEA1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMT1idEOUnY&list=PL8B1A1FD08297B642&index=3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8hkDjVYXQY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGrN_RD86C4&list=PL64EFCAD361C7DD12 Fuckin Richard Jacques man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvSUOweBa4I Wish they got Stephen Rippy to do more Halo work. (This just makes me want to get back into Halo more after Bungie and Halo Reach near killed it for me. Really wish Microsoft would port MCC and Halo 5 to Windows 10)
 
I

ivanthebearable

Member
Gonna check some of the picks in this thread later when I have some time but I'll put some thoughts.

I used to be one of those that would prefer Japanese game music without question but I realized that it's more that I generally tend to prefer catchy, hummable more melodic tracks rather than atmospheric songs, which isn't exactly something that is restricted to one side of the Earth or another. Basically I liked hearing your Sonics, your Marios, your Kirbys and stuff like that.

While so far I still have noticed that Eastern games tend to nail that more for me, there's been some great examples of Western games that fit what I'm into. Mighty Switch Force, De Blob, Skullgirls (does this count as Western music?), almost anything Jake Kaufman related in general are really awesome and is the kind of stuff I'd like to hear more of. Hopefully I'll get to discover more cool stuff like that in this thread.
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
ivanthebearable said:
Gonna check some of the picks in this thread later when I have some time but I'll put some thoughts.

I used to be one of those that would prefer Japanese game music without question but I realized that it's more that I generally tend to prefer catchy, hummable more melodic tracks rather than atmospheric songs, which isn't exactly something that is restricted to one side of the Earth or another. Basically I liked hearing your Sonics, your Marios, your Kirbys and stuff like that.

While so far I still have noticed that Eastern games tend to nail that more for me, there's been some great examples of Western games that fit what I'm into. Mighty Switch Force, De Blob, Skullgirls (does this count as Western music?), almost anything Jake Kaufman related in general are really awesome and is the kind of stuff I'd like to hear more of. Hopefully I'll get to discover more cool stuff like that in this thread.
Click to expand...
Basically the same situation for me, as well. I even made a thread about this exact mindset when I was still mistakenly exclusively attributing "catchy" tunes to Japanese artists.

Also, my contribution for cool western music:

Tommy Tallarico

Terminator - Future Shock

Terminator - Destinations Unknown

Dean Evans

Waterworld - Diving

David Arkenstone

Emperor: Battle for Dune - Dark Alliance

Emperor: Battle for Dune - Surrounded

All of the above are exactly what I look for in a game, and provided by western artists. Melodic tunes are definitely rarer on the western side of the equation - most artists/western games tend to go for more sweeping, symphonic, atmospheric scores - but they definitely exist and stand right up there with their Japanese contemporaries. Or perhaps it's that Japanese games tend to avoid the latter sort of tunes for the most part, making them an almost definite shoe-in for the catchier music.
 
S

Schopenhauerian

Member
Some tracks I really liked (composers haven't been mentioned yet):

Ed Harrison
Andrew Barnabas
Graeme Norgate
Darren Mitchell
In case you're wondering about attribution (Kirkhope or Norgate?) for the Goldeneye and Perfect Dark soundtracks:

With respect to MediEvil:
  • When the game came out, loved 'Hilltop Mausoleum' so much that I emailed Andrew Barnabas to thank/congratulate him for it. In his reply he confirmed it was indeed one of his tracks :)
  • Credits (for MediEvil and Primal, for example) indicate he usually works with Paul Arnold: https://soundcloud.com/abandpa
 
X

XANDER CAGE

Member
BONKERS said:
My biggest issue with Western music in games historically is how it's been implemented and treated rather than with the music itself.

Often it's put in some stupid as hell dynamic streaming system that treats the music more like a sound effect than a piece of music. Trying to be like a movie score, but with none of the precision or finesse of such a linear system.
It ruins the listening experience

The quintessential example here is Castlevania Lords of Shadow for me.
Great soundtrack, ruined experience in game by the terrible underlying audio system design trying to change the music to player actions. Generic and completely un Castlevania like when the actual soundtrack when played how it should be would've worked incredibly well.

And of course the best example of this system actually working well without ruining the listening experience is the original Unreal(1998). (And Phantasy Star Online 1/2)


I used to really dislike the approach taken by many western games, forgoing thematic and melodic approaches to music that I really liked and preferred from Japanese music.
(Not that ALL western music was written that way anyway)

That changed a long time ago as the whole idea of loving video game music for me is based on the idea of being open minded and that there are no real rules that have to be adhered to when comes to the composition itself. Game music should be heterogeneous and not expected to be homogeneous. Unlike the actual music/band industry

When it comes to game music, there should be no east/west divide. It should just be Game Music!

Some of my favorites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcvndQIfu0A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjNa8qkcb_I&list=PLE82054FF0114AEA1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMT1idEOUnY&list=PL8B1A1FD08297B642&index=3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8hkDjVYXQY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGrN_RD86C4&list=PL64EFCAD361C7DD12 Fuckin Richard Jacques man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvSUOweBa4I Wish they got Stephen Rippy to do more Halo work. (This just makes me want to get back into Halo more after Bungie and Halo Reach near killed it for me. Really wish Microsoft would port MCC and Halo 5 to Windows 10)
Click to expand...

Some games have done a really good job with the dynamic stem mixing stuff though. Red Dead Redemption comes to mind, for example.
 
E

Evilisk

Member
Having played Sly 4 for the first time this year, I have to agree that McConnell did a good job with the soundtrack. Some of my favorite tracks were:
Thieves in Time
Getting Stronger
Go West Young Raccoon
Merry Olde England
Whoa Camel Whoa

I personally really like David Bergeaud's work on the Ratchet and Clank series the most of any western composer. Up Your Arsenal in particular is my favorite.
Arena Boss (The Terrible Two)
Courtney Gears' Battle Theme
Qwark's Hideout
Starship Phoenix

GoldandBlue said:
Laura Shigihara needs a mention. Her theme for Plants vs Zombies was the reason I decided to pick up the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N1_0SUGlDQ
Click to expand...

Yeah, this. While PVZ2 overall was fairly disappointing, I was disappointed the most at Shigihara not composing for the sequel.

Here arere some other good tracks in PVZ1 (I'm not sure these are the original versions, but all the in-game versions uploads are of rubbish quality or are 15 minutes long, and at least these versions still do appear in the official, digital release)

Loon Boon
Cerebrawl
Watery Graves
Graze the Roof
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Its late, but you guys should look into the Folin bros output on NES and SNES as well. Also Mark Morgan for early Fallout, Wasteland, and Stasis.

Not sure who did the soundtrack for Unreal 1, but they definitely deserve a mention as one of the great.

Subbing though, since most games draw me in by soundtrack first these days.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
Teknoman said:
Not sure who did the soundtrack for Unreal 1, but they definitely deserve a mention as one of the great.
.
Click to expand...

Alexander Brandon and Michiel van den Bos were mainly responsible for the Unreal 1 and Unreal Tournament (UT99) soundtracks. Both of these composers also worked together with another composer on the original Deus Ex soundtrack, and that is also worth checking out too. Both Alexander Brandon and Michiel van den Bos are composing the music for the newest Unreal Tournament game.

Composer listings for all Unreal/ UT/ UC games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal_(series)_soundtracks
Composer listings for Deus Ex: http://deusex.wikia.com/wiki/Deus_Ex_Soundtrack


lucebuce12 said:
Can't believe Jesper Kyd is getting so little love in this thread.
Click to expand...

The entire Batman and Robin soundtrack on the Genesis/ Mega Drive is incredible.

I also posted this in the "underrated soundtracks" thread recently...

MrCunningham said:
MDK2:
I posted about this one in another thread lately.

The soundtrack for this game was a collaboration between Jesper Kyd (Adventures of Batman and Robin and many other 16bit Genesis/ Mega Drive games, Hitman series, Assassin's Creed series, Borderlands series ), Albert Olson and Raymond Watts ('80s/ '90s industrial rock legend who worked with groups like KMFDM,and NiN). The soundtrack mixes up a (simulated) orchestral type movie score with techno, industrial, audience, and drum and bass.

Main Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7UzgvogWiI&index=1&list=PL26A308226CC188C3

Kurt's Theme I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q38E7CZNvik&index=13&list=PL26A308226CC188C3 (love the hard beats and stealthy sound)
Kurt's Theme II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zYz7F1FtmU&index=15&list=PL26A308226CC188C3 (takes on a more action theme)
Kurt's Theme III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9VmiOeRqAc&list=PL26A308226CC188C3&index=16 (one of my favorite tracks in the game)

Tanker Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDluudikD3M&index=2&list=PL26A308226CC188C3
Run Kurt Run!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGA-2Surc6Y&list=PL26A308226CC188C3&index=3
Hard Boiled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgMAxp0R5qc&index=5&list=PL26A308226CC188C3
Man In Action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYuM4jKMBFo&index=6&list=PL26A308226CC188C3

Hawking Theme I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl6MkyTdeds (takes on a bit of a Home Alone vibe with '50's sci-fi undertones)
Hawking Theme II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZj_8axUYcY&list=PL26A308226CC188C3&index=9
Hawking Theme III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlixbzWp7WI&list=PL26A308226CC188C3&index=10
Click to expand...
 
H

His Majesty

Banned
Anno said:
Great thread. RIP Kirill Pokrovsky - you were a genius who won't easily be replaced.
Click to expand...

He was one of my favourite composers. His music for the Divinity series has been consistently amazing. It's the soundtrack that made me try out the Dragon Knight saga and then Divine Divinity before Original Sin was released.

Ascending Lord Lovis' tower becomes extra special when this track starts playing.

He will be sorely missed.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
orthodoxy1095 said:
Tomáš Dvořák - Samorost 2, Machinarium, Samorost 3
nqh4FfE.jpg

Dvořák has worked on some incredible point-and-click games, with Machinarium arguably being the standout. Many of history's greatest PnC games rely heavily on witty dialogue for their characters, but Machinarium is a bit different. Machinarium instead takes Dvořák's music and pushes it to the very forefront of the game and utilizes music to push the game forward. The crowning achievement of Machinarium though is just how perfectly the OST matches the beautiful backdrops and aesthetic.
Click to expand...
Please y'all listen to Forget Me Not, from Dvorak/Floex.
It's a great track.
 
J

jb1234

Member
I listen to Austin Wintory if I want to think about the music I'm listening to. He's disturbingly talented, perhaps the most skilled of all the composers listed here (at least on a technical level). Some of the harmonies he comes up with are very fresh and original. But if I just want to hum a great tune, I think Wise and Kaufman are better melodists. Just depends what I'm looking for from day to day.
 
J

Just take it with you.

Member
I, too, find the debate between Japan and the West tiresome, as if there is no good Western videogame music.

I know it's been mentioned, but Solar Fields's work on Mirror's Edge is good stuff.

The Shard Puzzle

Kate Puzzle

Also, Might and Magic VI:

Frozen Highlands

Freehaven

Temple of the Ancients

And Might and Magic VII:

Temple of the Sun, Moon, Baa

Deyja, Bracada Desert

I think both of these were done mostly by Paul Romero, but I'm not 100% sure on VI since the credits list multiple composers.
 
G

Glowsquid

Member
InfiniteCombo said:
h, since I'm on this topic, Eveline Fischer deserves a mention for her outstanding work on Donkey Kong Country 3. It's far and away my favorite soundtrack of that series. From what I remember, she even wrote/co-wrote some tracks from DKC1 as well.
Click to expand...

It's true. here's the tracks she did according to the old "Scribes" feature on Rare's site:

-Simian Segue (map theme)
-Candy's Love Song
-Voices of the Temple
-Forest Frenzy
-Treetop Rock
-Northern Hemispheres
-Ice Cave Chant
 
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